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Orix Buffaloes Victory Jets Baseball Game in Osaka, Japan

October 30, 2008 by Jeff · 1 Comment 

While attending the baseball game in Osaka Japan at the Kyocera Osaka Dome a cool thing went on.  During the break between the top and bottom of the 7th inning Victory jet's were released.

What's a Victory Jet you ask?

A victory jet is basically a balloon that you blow up which is suppose to look like a gigantic #1 hand.  You then release the balloon at the end of a song and everyone's balloons fly around for a bit.  The end of the balloon actually has a special attachment to release the air slowly which makes the balloon fly for longer.

So there we were enjoying the game and then at the top of the 7th inning people start blowing up these baloons.... Weird.   We're still watching the game and more and more and more people start blowing up these balloons.  Then it seemed like EVERYONE had these balloons... and by everyone I mean EVERY SINGLE PERSON...except us of course because why would we have these random balloons?
Anyway, we were lucky enough to actually get to participate in the Victory Jets as the nice man in front of us gave us one each.  If you're at a game be sure to purchase some victory jet's so that you don't feel left out.


I was lucky enough to catch a video of the Victory Jets.


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Tsukuba Expo and Planetarium Center

October 30, 2008 by Jeff · Leave a Comment 

I visited the Tsukuba Expo and Planetairum at the end of September 2008. The cost to enter the combined exhibit is 700 Yen, which works out to approximately $7.00.

Tsukuba Expo

The Expo consists of two floors and an outdoor arena. The first floor is a hands on science experiment area. You get to see everything from how human energy turns to power to the forces of electromagnetics. The picture below is from one fun experiment where you pedal and it creates power and the power moves a model train around a track!

The upper floor was all about the worlds travel to outer-space. There are fun games to play and a full NASA suit on display. I really enjoyed this part of the expo exhibit.

Plantearium

The planetarium is held in the world's largest hemispherical dome. You get to watch the presentation (movie) in this dome. The neatest part for me was the entrance to the dome where they have some robots which were presented at Tsukuba Expo 85. The one robot I really thought was neat was a robot that plays the piano (organ). There are pictures of it playing with a crowd of people watching the presentation... very neat!

Warning: The planetarium is Japanese only. This means that the entire presentation (movie) is in Japanese. I still understood the general idea of the presentation. However, I definitely missed parts of the movie.

If you're in Tsukuba and looking for something to do I'd recommend the Expo. This would be a really great thing to take a group of kids to as all the hands on displays can make for a fun afternoon.

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Hotel Grande Shinonome Tsukuba - A Review

October 28, 2008 by Jeff · Leave a Comment 

We stayed at the Hotel Grande Shinonome in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan at the end of September 2008. We stayed here during a conference that Lindsay was attending at the Tsukuba Internation Congress Center. Here is a review of our stay at the Hotel Grande Shinonome.

Location

The Hotel Grande Shinonome is located approximately 5-10 minutes (walking) from the Tsukuba Train Station. To get to most of major attractions (Tsukuba Expo, Conference Center or Train Station) you're looking at a 10-15 minute walk or approximately 1-2 km.

English Language

When checking-in and talking to anyone at the front desk we are always able to speak to someone in English. Although, we'd like to practice our Japanese (or lack thereof) this makes a very nice way of simply getting your room.

Hotel Class

The hotel seems quite nice, the American equivalent would probably be somewhere around a Ramada Inn. Obviously, we've stayed in better and worse hotels but this is a quite comfortable hotel. In fact, outside there is a well Japanese manicured garden and pond.

Rooms

The rooms themselves are small (as expected) but clean and comfortable. Although, we've both remarked on how the beds (yes, plural as they're are two twin beds for a 'double' room) are rather hard. One neat thing about the room is the shower and tap combination where you have a leaver that allows you to switch between either the shower head or the sink. Just don't try and wash your hands while someone is having a shower (trust me!).

I've made a YouTube video of the hotel room for everyone to see, so enjoy.

Weirdness

The weirdest part of the hotel is our bathroom. To get into the bathroom there is a large step (8 inches) up. This is not that bad going into the bathroom but actually leaving, especially at 3am in the morning! I swear that if I stayed here for longer then a week I'd have two rolled ankles.

Overall

Overall we really enjoyed our stay and would definitely stay at the Hotel Grande Shinonome again. It's a reasonably priced, within walking distance and clean and comfortable.

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A How to Guide to the Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass)

October 27, 2008 by Jeff · Leave a Comment 

As I mentioned in my last post the Japan Rail Pass (JR Pass) is a must have traveling in Japan. In this post I'll discuss how you must go about getting, activating and using the pass. You know the stuff that you'll probably want to know before leaving.

Buying the JR Pass

You must buy the JR pass before arriving in Japan. This is done because the JR Pass is intended to help boost the Japan tourism. In fact, we read somewhere that of the tourism in Japan only 3% is from foreign countries. This means that most of the tourism in Japan is actually Japanese tourists! Crazy huh!

Anyway, you actually can't buy the pass while in Japan. We went to the JR pass website and found an office in Vancouver to order our tickets. We had to fill out a form and fax it to them in order to get JR pass. The tickets arrived 3 days afterwards (we payed extra for xpresspost shipping).

Activating the JR Pass

When arriving in Japan you must search out a station with a JR pass activation booth. Fear not as there's a list of stations which have these booths. You then present your JR tickets. You'll then have a chance to tell them when you want to activate your pass. It's quite an easy process actually. If you're wanting to activate your pass right away there is an office right in the airport. We activated our passes at Tokyo Station and the booth was right beside the main JR ticket office.



Using the JR Pass

To use the JR pass you simply go to the ticket stalls like everyone else. At the far left side (or sometimes right) there will be a main at a booth. You simply show him/her your JR pass as you walk by. The sign will say something like "white backed tickets".

When exiting from the JR station you go to the far right (sometimes left) and show the ticket again. Voila! You've now used your JR pass to 'pay' for a ride on a train.

I was fearful that there wouldn't be a man at the booth or that there would be a big line. However, there was always someone at the booth and we never had to wait more then 2 minutes to show our pass. Japanese efficiency at it's best!

Reserving seats on a Shinkansen (bullet train) with your JR Pass

Reserving a seat on a shinkansen is easy. You simply go to the ticket purchasing counter and tell them where and when you're traveling. They'll provide you with the available traveling options.

Luckily, most ticket sales counters speak some basic english and tell you the time of departure and arrival on a calculator which is unbelievably handy!

The JR pass is a must have when traveling in Japan if you're going to be going to multiple destinations. If you're planning on going to only one city and staying for a while then the rail pass might not be your best option and you'll have to do some simple math. However, if you're planning on traveling around Japan for a two week period the JR pass will save you money and time.

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Shangrila Tsuruoka Hotel - Kamakura - A Review

October 24, 2008 by Jeff · Leave a Comment 

We stayed at the Shangrila Tsuruoka Hotel in Kamakura at the start of October 2008. We found the hotel by simply wandering the main street in Kamakura. Definitely, not the best way to find a cheap hotel in a touristy location. However, it's a very good way to get a hotel in a good location! From all of our travels it seems that Price and Location are joined at the hip!

Anyway, here's a review of the Shangrilla Tsuruoka Hotel in Kamakura


Rooms

It's a little tough for us to judge exactly what the rooms are like as we had a deluxe room. No we aren't some rich tourists, tourists yes, rich tourists, no. We stayed in a deluxe room as it was one of the cheaper places to stay in Kamakura. We probably could have looked elsewhere, however, based on the places we'd checked prior to this place they were all around the same price (without the word deluxe attached to the end).

Anyway, our deluxe room was quite nice. It was basically the same as any normal room that we've stayed in Japan, however, it was bit more.... gaudy! The bed spreads, couch and wall paper all looked very dated, not dirty, just dated. The one nice thing about the deluxe room is that we had a very good view of the street with a little patio.

Location

The location of the Shangrila Tsukuroka in Kamakura is almost perfect. You're half way up the main strip between the post office and the main temple. You're close to plenty of restaurants and little shops. In fact, just behind the hotel is a really neat street with lots of cool little shops selling everything from Kimono's to Ice Cream to Fruit.



Price

The price was a bit on the expensive side for the deluxe room, 16000 yen (~$160 Canadian). Again, this is because we had to get a Deluxe Room. However, the 'basic' rooms are one of the cheaper western style hotels in Kamakura.

Overall

Overall this was a good hotel in Kamakura. We actually spent a bit of time as we were exhausted from our hike around Kamakura so it worked out nice to have a decent hotel room. I'd recommend for people to stay here but don't splurge on the Deluxe Room unless you can't find any other cheaper rooms in town.

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Kyoto Imperial Palace - Kyoto, Japan

October 22, 2008 by Jeff · 2 Comments 

In my last post about the Kyoto Imperial Palace I discussed how to get access to the Palace. Since that time we've gone on the tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

The tour of the Kyoto Imperial Palace takes about 60 minutes and tours through the outside of each building and gates. You start the tour with a video of what you'll see throughout the tour, which, I've always found a bit weird. Why show us what we'll see if we're just going to go see it? Our tour was provided in English and was a tour group of 130 people! This was (in my opinion) too large of a group. To take a picture or see a detail you had a long wait and were unlikely to see it before being rushed off to the next stop.

The highlight of the tour (in terms of buildings) is the entrance gate to the main courtyard. The gate is a brilliant orange colour and the buildling is a massive structure in behind. You can see in the picture below how impressive it looks. Although, it's really not the best picture as it was a quick snap before getting ushered along.

The other highlight of the tour is the Imperial Palace garden. It's a beautifully manicured garden with a small island and bridge. There was actually a pelican standing on a rock looking like it was modelling/posing for everyone. Anyway, here's one of the pictures that we got from the garden (sorry, that it's overexposed but that's camera life!) The garden was really pretty and quite nice because it seemed that people were more interested in the buildings behind the garden then the garden itself!


If you only have time for one tour I highly recommend going to see the Shaunkin Imperial Villa rather then the Imperial Palace. Overall, I thought the Imperial Villa was much prettier and was a much more intimate atmosphere. The Imperial Villa group was around 25 where as this was 130 people. That's a huge difference when you're trying to take pictures and appreciate the surroundings.

Although, if you want to see impressive structures and templets rather then beautiful scenery then the Kyoto Imperial Palace should be your choice. Either way you should definitely make time to see either of these great places in Kyoto.

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JR Pass - A must have when traveling in Japan

October 20, 2008 by Jeff · 1 Comment 

Let me just say that the Japan Rail Pass or JR Pass is a must have when traveling in Japan.  The added convenience, amount saved and amount of time saved is definitely worth it.

Cost

The JR pass will save you money. Plain and simple.  The normal return ticket from Tokyo to Kyoto on  a Shinkansen costs approximately 13220 on a Hikari car.  You can only book the Hikari or Kodoma cars with the JR Pass.  The Nozomi (the fastest) costs extra.   This is approximately the cost of a 7-day JR pass ticket.  If you're planning to travel past Kyoto or around other places then you'll definitely pay off your ticket quickly.

Convenience

While traveling around the number of times that we picked the wrong gate, wrong direction or just wanted to leave the gate for a few minutes was almost countless.  It's so easy to just jump back and forth between the gates with your pass.  In Hiroshima we stopped in for a quick 4 hour visit and went through the JR gates probably around 20 times. 

Train to the Airport (Narita Express)

Another nice thing about the JR Pass is that you can get a seat on the Narita Express Train.  This is a reserve only train so you HAVE to reserve. However, this train is free with your pass and will get you to the airport quickly and efficiently.


Additional Thoughts

As well, if you ever change your mind and want to visit somewhere else it's no big deal.  We were traveling to HIroshima and decided to continue along to Fukuoka.  No big deal.  We simply moved to a 'non-reserved' seat and kept on going.  You can also do this without a JR pass but you'll have to deal with Fee corrections and additional costs when you arrive to your destination.  This isn't a big hassle but it is really nice having the flexibility to extend (or shorten) your trip depending on your travel plans

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Traveling on a Long Weekend in Japan

October 20, 2008 by Jeff · 1 Comment 

We were lucky (unlucky?) enough to be traveling on a long weekend in Japan.  Here are some tips that you should take into consideration... Or another way to put it... Learn from our mistakes!   lol.  Let's just say not having a reservation ended up allowing us to see the Osaka Station and Shimbashi area... with our 40-50 pound backpacks on our back!

Make a Hotel Reservation

If you're staying at a major destination with lots of hotels you wouldn't think that finding a hotel will be difficult.  However, let me warn you...... it is.

So be sure to make a reservation.  Yes, the prices may seem slightly higher then you're willing to pay. However, the other option is

  • Wandering the streets looking for a place with an open room
  • Paying more anyway because you need a place to stay!


Make a Train Reservation

Trains are the other thing that gets ridiculously busy during the long weekends.  Although, you'll be making a train reservation regardless traveling on the Shinkasen's (bullet trains) you'll want to make the reservation early.  One of the reasons is that there are more Nozomi trains that travel between this area which are not included in the JR Pass. So you could pay for this but simply making a reservation early will save you some money!

We made a reservation from Osaka to Tokyo two days ahead of time and the only time we could get was early in the morning. This doesn't seem that bad but considering the number of trains that travel between Osaka and Tokyo this is quite crazy! It worked out but it could have been a lot worse, trying to cram in a non-reserved section or sitting for three hours in a smoking section. 

Tourist Sights

If you'd like to visit an area (temple, garden, etc...) with less people then don't plan to travel during a long weekend.  The Japanese are great appreciators of their own heritage, culture and sights.  This means that there are lots of tourists at most places during a long weekend.  Try to make your plans work around to not include these sights until after the long weekend!

The other option is to visit a tourist sight that IS busy and that you'd like to see busy, like Shibuya.  Shibuya has the distinction of the busiest intersection on the planet. We went here on the Monday of the long weekend and it did not disappoint!  Check out the number of people in the picture below... crazyness!

Hopefully these tips help you to enjoy your long weekend in Japan.  Don't let the business stop you in fact you should try to enjoy it because that's a more Japanese experience!

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I Say You Yunessun and Relax in Hakone, Japan

October 17, 2008 by Jeff · Leave a Comment 

If you're headed to Hakone Yumoto in Japan after a hard day of viewing Mt. Fuji be sure to make one of your stops at either an Onsen or the Yunessun.

An Onsen is the Japanese version of a Hot Tub but only sorta. The idea behind an Onsen is that you wash yourself thoroughly prior to entering the Onsen. Then the Onsen is simply a hot water bath. Male and Female are separated as you go 'O Natural'. Although, this is a pleasant experience and and a 'must do' if you're in Japan you can't spend time with your Kids or Partner in the Onsen. Another option in Hakone, Japan is the Yunessun.

The Yunessun is a bathing suit wearing waterpark. However, it's not a water park in the North American manner. Yes, there are three water slides (or Rodeo slides as they're called). However, the real features of the Yunessun come with the water baths. There are over 30 water baths at the Yunessun. These range from simply hot water to Coffee to Wine to Sake to Salt Water. Here's a run down of some of the more popular water baths and my thoughts (pictures from the Yunessun website).

Coffee

The Coffee Water bath, although, sounds good in principal is actually not that well done. I was really looking forward to this bath as it sounded terrific. However, it didn't smell very strongly like coffee.



Wine
The wine bath is neat because it makes everything look really pink. The bath again doesn't have a distinct 'wine' smell but it definitely looks neat.

Green Tea
The Green Tea bath is not suprisingly the strongest smelling bath. It really smells as if you're soaking in Green Tea.

Sake
The Sake bath didn't smell strongly of Sake, however, right above where the water drops into the bath a drip of Sake is released every 20 seconds or so. You can actually go and taste the Sake above the water if you like!

Dead Sea Salt Bath
The dead sea salt water bath was really cool. It made your skin and the pool feel really slimey but the neatest part is the weightlessness. You are literally buoyant in the water and can just lie on your back and float around. It's really cool!

All that being said the highlight of the whole Water Park or Yunessun is the Garra Rufa fish as I mentioned here. It's quite the experience having a group of fish gnawing at your feet.

We went on a Sunday which is one of the busier days and it was actually not as busy as we'd expected. Overall I'd say if you're looking for a nice day of relaxing visit the Yunessun. Be warned that you do need at least 2-3 hours to really see and enjoy everything at the Yunessun.

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Hotel Genvia Kyoto Japan - A Review

October 17, 2008 by Jeff · 1 Comment 

We stayed at the Genvia Hotel in Kyoto Japan at the start of October 2008.  We throughly enjoyed our stay at the Hotel.  The staff was nice and attentive a later checkout at noon and a large soft king bed made this a great say.  Overall, it was definitely the nicest place we stayed in all of Japan (also the most expensive but...)

A little back story of why we stayed at the Hotel Genvia.  When we arrived in Kyoto it was 9 pm and pouring rain. We had all our stuff (2 large backpacks) so we decided rather then search for a hotel which we were relying on Kanji (Japanese script language) and get drenched in the rain we'd checkout the Hotel Genvia.  Upon walking in we could tell it was a high class and probably high price hotel.  Earlier in the trip we'd inquired about a price at a similarly nice hotel (in Kamakura) and the hotel cashier was quite snooty about the experience.  We were expecting a bit of the same here but they treated us as if we were any other paying customer.  A nice find when you look like a backpacker who'd just woke up on a train ride.

Location
The Hotel Genvia in Kyoto is located literally in the train station.  You simply exit the gates and then follow the signs to the hotel. It really can't get easier and when arriving by train you really can't beat this location.

Also, when getting around town the bus terminal, train and subway stations are all right outside your hotel.  The transit system in Kyoto is absolutely SPECTACULAR.  Kyoto has the best bus system that I've ever used and is available in both Japanese and English!

Rooms

The rooms are excellent!  The room we stayed in was the equivalent to a Western (North American) room.  Spacious, soft beds, duvet comforter.  However, they also have a Japanese touch which includes slippers and a kimono.  I love this little touch.

As well, if you ask for a room higher up then you'll be lucky enough to have a great view of the Kyoto Tower and Kyoto in general!  In fact, my travel book recommended to either go up to the 14th floor of the Hotel Genvia for a drink or up the Kyoto Tower.  Well, since we were staying on the 11th floor this was totally unnecessary.

Prices

The prices where a little on the high side as we payed $240 (taxes included) for our room.  This was after a special discount that the hotel cashier nicely provided.  This is definitely a bit pricey (and probably over our price range) but we felt it was worth the money (a nice splurge is good once and a while).

Overall

Overall we really enjoyed our stay at the Hotel Genvia in Kyoto. We'll definitely stay there again if we have the money or time.  We'd recommend it to anyone who is looking to either splurge a bit or looking for a western hotel room in Kyoto, Japan.


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